Artists get down and dirty for outdoor sculpture exhibit in Abilene

Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News
The artist of "Southern Comfort," Robbie Barber (left), talks about his art during the installation of new works along North First Street on Friday.

Five men hold the John Deere-green steel wing aloft as another fellow bolts the wing on the cypress wood-covered body. The September sun heats the metal as the "Large Tractor Wing" sculpture gets closer to completion.

Sculptor Kurt Dyrhaug hustles around the piece, the red bandanna tied around his head keeping sweat out of his eyes. Dyrhaug's is the final piece of Abilene's 32nd Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit. His fellow exhibitors, Robbie Barber, Tanya Synar and Julia Ousley, step in to help as needed.

These are men and women who work with steel, iron and bronze, and get dirty in the process of creating their art. They all call Texas home, and their styles represent four very different viewpoints and styles.

Their sculptures can be found on North First at Beech streets, across from the Old Weather Bureau Building. How they got there goes back about a year and a half.

That's when local artist and sculptor Steve Neves first approached Dyrhaug to see if the Beaumont resident was interested in curating the 2012 exhibit. Neves met him when Dyrhaug had an exhibit in 2005 at the Ira M. Taylor Memorial Gallery at Hardin-Simmons University, where Neves is on the faculty.

Dyrhaug, originally from the Twin Cities in Minnesota, originally started as a printmaker, but while he was studying at the Minnesota College of Art and Design, his adviser suggested he take a sculpting class.

"You know how you hear about those 'life-changing' moments?" he said. "This was one of those."

"Large Tractor Wing" is just that, big, but Dyrhaug also does small- and medium-size sculptures, and the size of the piece determines the material. He works in iron, steel and wood.

Other pieces include "Tonka Jet," named for its toy-truck yellow color, and "Plow the Field," a cast-iron and enamel sculpture that looks like a plow blade. He said his work reflects his Minnesota background, with its cities surrounded by agriculture, and the nautical feeling he gets in Beaumont, along with the aeronautical influence.

Once he agreed to curate the exhibition, he needed to find three other artists to participate. He knew that Robbie Barber's work complemented his own sense of playfulness.

Barber had long desired to be a part of the Abilene Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. He had a solo show at The Grace Museum in 1998, where he learned about the exhibition.

Barber's "A Stroll in the Park" looks like an old-fashioned travel trailer on a baby-carriage frame. He often uses houses and travel trailers in his work. He grew up in North Carolina and found inspiration all around him — literally.

"You know the whole idea you don't notice what you see every day, then one day you notice?" he said. Suddenly, Barber saw the old trailers and old houses everywhere. He was looking for an interesting subject and found it.

He incorporates those and other found items into whimsical sculptures, such as "Tobacco Shed," a small, barnlike structure sitting on top of an old step stool, or "Goddard Nomad V," which looks like a trailer about to shoot into space, courtesy of the two attached rocket boosters.

"I try to inject humor, especially in my outdoor work," Barber said.

Dyrhaug wanted the exhibit to be balanced in artists, styles and gender.

He approached Tanya Synar, who he had met in 1999 while still a student in Minnesota. The Illinois native has called Seattle home, too. She now teaches at Texas Woman's University.

Synar's contribution to the exhibit, "Carbon Echo" sits low to the ground. The placement reflects her interest in the geological realm. The six pieces of cast iron are bolted to plates of steel that are painted black and given a mirrored shine.

Synar said the work reflects multiple inspirations, from carbon and the topography of Earth. But the shapes and design of the piece allow individual interpretations. She said people have told her the bowllike shapes make them think of peanuts, geodes or seed pods.

"I think of things of the earth, in the earth," the artist said. She said when it rains, the elements of the sculpture hold water and attract birds and small animals.

The fourth piece in the exhibition, "Ohio II," an intricate puzzle of cut steel sheets, comes from the hands of Julia Ousley. She and Dyrhaug met last fall through a Sculpture Network Of Texas symposium.

Ousley added the balance Dyrhaug wanted for the exhibit. "She had a certain architectural quality."

She cuts the steel sheets by hand with a plasma cutter, creating silhouettes of figures and trees that she fits together, turning the two-dimensional images into a 3-D work of art.

The four pieces were installed Thursday and Friday. Then it was time for receptions and meeting local fans.

Dyrhaug worked on his piece nonstop since the end of July, which cut into his time with his wife and almost-5-year-old twins.

"This took a lot of labor, a lot of focus and a lot of tasks that needed to be done in a certain order," Dyrhaug said. "I'm looking forward to relaxing and spending time with my wife and the kids."